(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers within the main London indices on Monday.
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FTSE 100 - LOSERS
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Rio Tinto, down 0.9%. The Anglo-Australian miner said it is resuming operations at Richards Bay Minerals, following discussions, led by the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikalala, addressing the issues in the community. Rio Tinto had halted operations at the start of January, saying it feared for the safety of employees due to "violence in the communities surrounding the operations" in South Africa. The company said one employee had been shot, and seriously injured, leading to the suspension of activity at the site, which produces minerals such as ilmenite, one of the main ores of titanium. On Monday, Rio said a phased restart is now in progress, with RBM expected to return to full operations in early January, leading to regular production in early 2020.
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Smiths Group, down 0.5%. Andy Smith is likely step down as chief executive of the engineering firm next year, after the spin-off of its medical business is complete, the Sunday Times reported. Smith, who has been chief executive of Smiths since 2015, has been under fire since the company was forced to abandon a merger of the medical unit with American firm ICU Medical Inc, the Times reported. In September 2018, Smiths confirmed that talks with ICU for a deal fell through. According to the Times, the Smiths board was unhappy with the terms of the deal.
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OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM - WINNERS
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CyanConnode, up 54%. The radio frequency technology company said it has secured an order in Thailand, a new territory, from JST Group. Under the agreement, CyanConnode said it will supply 33,000 units of its hardware head end system and will provide annual maintenance services. Hardware deliveries will commence in 2020, with deliverables for the integrated system commencing immediately. The company will also receive an upfront payment at the time of order of around USD400,000, which is about 25% of the contract value. On successful deployment, the 33,000 units are expected to extend to a further 200,000 units, the AIM-listed company noted. "We are delighted to be part of the consortium contracted to implement a smart metering deployment for Metropolitan Electricity Authority in Thailand," said Executive Chair John Cronin.
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Mosman Oil & Gas, up 7.1%. The company reported progress at GEM International Resources, a Vancouver-based investee which recently raised new capital and conducted a debt for equity swap. GEM raised CAD400,000, roughly GBP233,482, by issuing 8.0 million shares at five Canadian cents each. Also, GEM completed a debt for equity swap for CAD270,000, meaning it has settled debt in exchange for new shares. A remaining loan amount of CAD50,000 owed by GEM to Mosman has been repayed. Mosman now owns 1.8 million, roughly 9.0%, of the shares in GEM. London-listed Mosman said: "GEM will now continue with its objective of securing an interest in a new project. Mosman is encouraged by this development and looks forward to the next step in GEM's revitalisation."
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Harvest Minerals, up 4.5%. The company said it expects to deliver its first profit in the year ahead as sales of its KPFertil fertiliser ramp up in Brazil. Harvest Minerals said sales of KPFertil, a natural remineraliser produced by the Arapua project in Minas Gerais state, reached about 50 kiloton in the past 12 months. Sales prices were maintained at BRL200, about USD48, per tonne, it said. "Having launched KPFertil just 12 months ago, we are delighted to report that we will close the year at breakeven at the profit before tax level. Given this progress and as we continue to build confidence in the product and grow our sales run-rate, we aim to see a maiden profit before tax in 2020," said Chair Brian McMaster. In the financial year ended June 30, Harvest Minerals recorded a pretax loss of USD3.5 million, widened from USD2.9 million the year before.
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By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2019 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Harvest Mi (di) (HMI)
Rio Tinto (RIO)
Smiths Group (SMIN)
Cyanconnode (CYAN)
Mosman Oil Gas (MSMN)